Methanol: * Known as methyl alcohol, methyl hydrate or wood naphtha * Simply form of alcohol used in the production and manufacturing of products * Occurs naturally * Annual global demand in 2011 almost 50 million tonnes

Demand: * basic characteristic in pure form highly toxic and flammable limited number of direct application * mostly used as a base ingredient in the production and manufacturing of products * 2/3 of the global methanol supply was used in traditional applications such as formaldehyde and acetic acid * 1/3 used for gasoline blending, dimethyl ether (DME), methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and the conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO) * 34% of supply used in production of formaldehyde, demand strong but in 2009 the National Cancer Institute (NCI) published a report that links formaldehyde to leukemia, multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s disease * 13% demand accounts for acetic acid, primarily used in the production of vinyl acetate. Additionally, used as a base component for photographic film, solvents, textiles and vinegar * 11% MTBE demand remained constant due to its use as a clean energy component in Europe and many developing economies * 10% Fuel Blending, 7 % DME increasing demand annually, Fuel blending will increase since China will introduced new national standards for the use of methanol blends. Other countries such us Australia, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Trinidad are researching methanol fuel blends as an alternative to pure fossil fuel * Global demand for DME is rising since it is a non-toxic and harmless to the ozone layer substitute for propane largest market china, growing demand Indonesia, japan, Sweden, Iran, Egypt and India * 3 % Biodiesel, 2 % MMA, 20 % Other * Annual global demand 48 million tonnes North America only 14% (around 7 million tonnes), China was the largest consumer of methanol due to its fuel-blending policies and increasing reliance on DME, therefore demand around 37% (almost 18 million tonnes). The Rest of the asia-pacific region (excluding China) accounted for 22 % of global demand, Europe for 23% and Latin America remaining with 4 %

Supply: * Dependent on the delivery of primary feedstock natural gas or coal production facilities * Natural gas supply was subject to fluctuating prices due to its interruptions to supply lines and international policies and regulations governing imports and exports * Could be greatly affected by planned and unplanned outages of methanol plants * Annual output capacity of modern methanol production plants was between 1.3 and 1.5 million tonnes mostly operated only at 85% of total capacity. one large plant can influence global supply and therefore prices * Methanol supply was largely dependent on industry growth and additions to global production capacity * Storage expensive production met demand * Unforeseen plant outages reduced availability of methanol which caused prices to fluctuate widely * Traditional demand for methanol not effect by spot prices due to is few cost-effective substitutes and the cost of methanol accounts only for a small percentage of the final products downstream value * Methanol energy application demand was more elastic and impacted by ratio of methanol and oil prices * Spot prices above 340$ china und Russia displaced the imported methanol and started to export their own produced methanol from coal but china as a decreasing incentive to generate methanol for export due to its growing demand for fuel blending and DME * CAGR of 4.7% from 1997 till 2011 projected to rise to a CAGR of 7.3 % in 2015 * Methanol had been traded above its energy value for the past 15 years expect 2009

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